Continuous furnace



Dec. 25', 1928.

1,696,822 J. B. 'rv-rus CONTINUOUS FURNACE Filed May l2. 1925 PatentedDee. 25, 192s.

UNITED STATES `PNraNT ori-les..

JOHN B. T'YT'US, OF MIDDLETOWN, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN ROLLINGMILL COMPANY, 'OF MIDIYLETOWN, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

CONTINUOUS rUaNAcE.

Application ledlay 12, 19.25. ,Serial No. 29,828.

My invention relates to continuous furnaces of the type in which piecesof metal are fed through the furnace, for the purpose of adjusting theirtemperature. It partlcularly relates to furnaces 1n which the piece 1scarried on endless chains.

The difficulty met with in the past 1n furnaces in which chains areemployed to carry the pieces over the rolls within the furnace has beenthe necessity of driving the chains by means of sprockets. The heatwit-hin the furnace is such that expansion and contraction of the chainlinks will result in the links hitting the advancing faces of sprocketteeth instead of engaging smoothly over them, as the chains are movedalong, with theresult that a chain, with the piece carried upon it,rises-up on the sprocket, displacing the chain, andI also the piececarried thereby. Thus the sprocket teeth for a'chainmust be arranged adistance apart such that the advancing.

face of the teeth will engage the link 1pins without any free play, andunder Vhigh eat conditions the distance between -link pins varies fordifferent parts of the chain, due to irregular expansion andcontraction, so that the riding of the chains up onto the'teeth of thesprockets is unavoidable.

It is the object of my invention to. overcome this particular diilicultyin chain feed furnaces, and this I accomplish by that certainconstruction and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter morespecifically pointed out and claimed. l

In the drawing:

Figurel 1 is a diagrammatic vertical sec.- tion taken lengthwise throu ha furnace.

Figure 2 is a plan view o the rollers and drive, for the furnace.

Figure 3 is a side elevation of one of the end rolls. l

It is not intended to show all of the details of a furnace, but onlysuiicient to point out the features of my invention. I have thus in-`dicatedfurnace walls atl, with a'series of on, said sheaves having noteeth within their peripheral channels, and tlietchannels being of asize to easily retain the chains 6.l There are shown two chainsG andthus two sheaves on each shaft, in the illustration.

carrying level of the furnace are a series of f return. sheaves 9, overwhich the chains pass.

These sheaves are mounted-on shafts 10 and 11, of which4 shafts, theshafts l() may be idle, and shafts 11 driven, andare arranged so -thatthe return portions of the chains arev balancedwith relation to thecarrying portions. l v

Pieces of metal are received onto the terminal r'olls'and chains and arecarried through v\the furnaces 4by the chains. The shafts 11 i may bedriven by gears 112|* andl chains 11b With adequate support for thereturn portions of the chains, and all sheaves rotated at the samespeed, it may be observed that a balanced condition is provided, suchthat with chains, they will still be fed along even though theengagement with them is a fricout sprocket teeth in engagement with thein line, which purpose might, it is evident,

be provi-ded forin other ways. The essence of my invention is thefrictional feeding of an endless chain, supported in a condition ofbalance as vto its return portion, so that a very slight force appliedto itwill give it motion, and in the use ofl the motion so applied, tocarry along pieces of metal through av furnace. l

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new anddesire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

' relatively smooth rotatable bodies'in the furnace, chains arrangedover said bodies, said chains being endless and supported in a conditionof balance as to-ther returny portions,

1.-In combination, a furnace, a series of and means for driving atleast/one of the rotatable bodies.

2. In -combination,.a furnace, aseries ofrelatively smooth rotatablebodies arranged channels, rotatable bodies supporting the chains inconditionV of balance, as to its return portions, and means for drivingthe first Anoted series of rotatable bodies, said channels being formedrelatively smooth so as to drive the chains frctionally only.

JOHN B. TYTUs.

